


Excursion

by AceMcshane



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Internal Conflict, Two Masters, World Domination, World Domination is More Fun if the Doctor Tries to Stop it., twissy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-05-24 11:57:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14954240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceMcshane/pseuds/AceMcshane
Summary: Missy is on a trip with the Doctor and realises they are about to meet her past self. The Doctor wants to go back to the TARDIS but she refuses. He really annoys her, so when she comes face to face with her past, she feels aggrieved enough to have some distance from the Doctor and go and have tea with the Master. One thing leads to another and she leaves with him. Before long, they are ruling a world and enjoying their elevated status. Planet wide destruction at their hands is soon imminent, but the Master isn't impressed by Missy's crisis of conscience.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I usually finish a story before posting it, but this is in progress, so I will try not to leave it too long between chapters. I needed to write Delgado’s Master as I just love him. (I just adore the Master if you haven’t guessed!) So I thought it would be interesting to explore him alongside season 10 Missy.

“And then the TARDIS could have helped moved the stranded ship back away from the burning atmosphere and guide them back to their new home,” the Doctor said.

Missy turned and looked at him, shaking her head, “why not just haul the ship far enough away from the atmosphere and give them a nudge in the right direction. We don’t need to hold the hands of every single person in distress you meet Doctor.”

She really, _really_ , hated it when he did this. They had been on four excursions out of the vault now, but every time it was like he lost his nerve and had to have some kind of morality briefing with her. She endured it because it was a means to an end, but she was sure his students got to express their opinions and debate. With the Doctor, he was right and she was wrong, and there never seemed any wriggle room in his rigid concept of morality.

“In this scenario their systems are damaged, so we need to ensure they make it home, don’t get stranded along the way, fall victim to boarders,” he explained.

She sighed, “it’s enough to save them and push them in the right direction, that’s more than generous, and isn’t it better if they work on their own systems, solve problems for themselves. It’s character building. If you don’t let them use their own minds then they are just your puppets, surely,” she said as she cast a knowing glance at him.

"Well sometimes people need more guidance before you can just nudge them in the right direction.”

She shook her head, knowing it was pointless to have that conversation - there was a time and a place for such an argument and when it might jeopardise her trip was not one of those times.

She half listened, half planned how to covertly smuggle home useful items she might find on the trip, and gave the appropriate amount of acceptable responses to the Doctors morality lecture. She only listened to enough that he couldn't trip her up and prove she hadn’t been listening, but it worked, and soon she was standing in his console room, nodding her thanks as he handed her her umbrella.

This was a straightforward trip according to the Doctor, minimum risk. He hadn’t elaborated on that, so the risk, she assumed, was what she posed to other people. Shrugging it off with a slight amusement, she focused on watching the Doctor.

He felt her eyes on him and was aware that her gaze was rather critical. She would be biting her tongue to not be telling him about more efficient ways to perform most of the tasks he was engaged in while he double checked the destination. The fact that she didn’t utter any remarks, made him uncomfortable on some level. He would hate to think that she felt that he would tease her with a taste of freedom and then change his mind if she got his back up. When he thought about it, she was always quiet right before they left. He wanted to talk to her about why that was, and ensure she was OK - but she didn’t seem in a talking mood so he made a mental note to have that conversation with her another time, when she was in a less vulnerable mood.

He paused, realising that he had just admitted to himself that she was feeling vulnerable, and wondered what to do about that. He really didn’t know - the Master showing vulnerability wasn't something he had really needed to consider before.

They materialised and he glanced at her, noticing he way she gripped her umbrella handle tightly. He stepped closer, “are you OK?”

“Of course i’m ok,” she said, her tone very guarded.

“OK, ready then?”” he asked, as he walked toward the door.

She nodded and walked toward the door as he pushed it open, following him outside.

In front of them was a town, buildings of all shapes and sizes, no real consistency with the architecture. They were clearly in the centre of town - a large water feature in an open and rather bustling marketplace.

It was much busier than the places he had taken to her before, and people rushed around the crowded marketplace. It was noisy, with the sound of vehicles in the distance and a number of somewhat more elaborate buildings situated on a mountainside which stretched as far as they could see.

He turned to Missy and was about to give her some more background on the town, but he noticed her tension straight away, “what’s wrong Missy?”

“Nothing,” she said, annoyed.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned her, earning him a look of utter disdain.

“Don’t _scan_ me!” she said, irritated.

“Sorry, I just,” he paused, looking at the readings, “wanted to check you were ok.”

“Well, it’s polite to ask!” she said, hating how he now knew how fast her hearts were racing.

He reached out and took her hand, “do you usually feel like this?”

“It passes if ignore it, so I suggest you do the same. It’s not an unusual reaction to a change in environment given that I exist in a vault Doctor. It just takes me a moment when we go out..to adjust,” she said. “Don’t make a big deal out of it, I will be fine in a moment, I always am.”

He squeezed her hand and they began to walk, their hands remaining together, “I wish you had told me - I want you to enjoy being outside, I certainly don’t want to cause you anxiety.”

“Oh please Doctor, I’m a dangerous killer, I don't have _anxiety_ , now shut up and let me browse these interesting stalls over here.”

He didn’t push her to talk, recognising that she was not at all prepared to discuss it, and making a mental note to approach the subject when they were back. He let her lead him as she pulled him through the crowded marketplace, she was becoming rapidly more relaxed, and he was glad to see that. He was also aware that as she eagerly led him through the maze of stalls, their hands were still joined. They had only ever held hands for the briefest of moments, and he took a moment to enjoy it. There was something that felt very right about such casual closeness between them.

Missy soon slowed her pace, although her eagerness to explore remained. They both cast glances at the eclectic collection of stalls as they passed,  and her attention was soon on a stall containing an unusual collection of what appeared to be mystical artefacts. She stood in front of it, dropping his hand, and began picking up and examining the very unusual selection of objects displayed.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and lightly squeezed as he whispered, “just promise me you’ll tell me what you need. If it’s too busy, or too open...we can work on that. You need to get out more so this doesn't become an issue - we can always go slowly if you need to.”

She reached up and placed her hand over his, acknowledging his words, but making it clear the conversation was over before dropping her hand and continuing to examine the artefacts.

He stood back, watching her - partly to ensure she wasn’t slipping anything questionable into her pockets, but also with interest at the items she was examining. One in particular held her attention, and she had picked it up and was staring at it with a frown.

He glanced at it - it was clearly out of place - a component of some kind, probably removed from a vessel, likely a hard drive of some design. He didn't recognise the origin at first, but it was vaguely familiar.

“What’s grabbed your interest?” he asked.

She turned to meet his eyes, her expression a mixture of confusion and wariness, “this is mine, or it was...in the past.”

“Yours?” he asked, feeling a slight concern.

“No, no it isn’t mine _yet._ I picked it up here…..from this stall,” she paused, meeting the Doctors eyes as her voice dropped to a whisper. “Lifetimes ago.”

His eyes grew wide in alarm, “one of your past selves obtains this from here? We need to leave Missy, we don't want to cross your time stream.”

She held it tighter, her demeanour changing in an instant as she looked past the Doctor, her eyes scanning the crowd, “and why is that Doctor?”

He followed her gaze, glancing at the bustling crowd, as his mind raced with all the possibilities of which one of her might be approaching at any possible moment.

“It’s never a good idea, but in your case, even more so….it’s best we leave ,” he said, taking her hand and trying to pull her away from the table.

She stood firm and shook her hand from his grasp and as she examined the hard drive, “my my Doctor,” she said with amusement, “are you worried? I never knew I had this effect on you - just the thought of me has you ready to run! Now which one of me might be worrying you the most, I must know.”

“Stop it Missy, this isn't the time for games, we need to leave,” he said. “You don't really want to meet your past. You’re light years from the lives you have lived now.”

He barely heard as she bartered with the merchant over the price and found himself distracted momentarily as he suddenly realised that he was being asked for payment, Missy clearly having selected something and announced that he was paying. He found the appropriate currency in his pocket and handed it over, thrown enough by the possibility of her bumping into one of her previous selves that he wasn’t entirely sure what she had purchased until he looked at the stall and realised it was the hard drive. He began to have an increasingly bad feeling about how this was going and realised they needed to leave.

He glanced around and was alarmed for a moment that he couldn't see her, but had a flash of relief when he spotted her, simply browsing the adjacent stall casually.

He stepped closer and took hold her arm, looping it in his, “we’re going back to the TARDIS, you can pick a destination - somewhere else, your choice.”

She raised an eyebrow in amusement, “you do seem desperate to leave Doctor, why not just sit back and observe. Afterall, he won't know either of us by sight.”

“Missy, we are leaving,” he said firmly, as he walked her toward the TARDIS.

Suddenly she stopped and pulled back when he tried to keep her moving.

“Missy,” he whispered. “We are going back, _now_.”

She turned to him and smiled mischievously, “No, we are not going back, we are staying for a while - now don’t go making a scene Doctor!”

He looked at her stunned, “Missy, you can't be serious. I know how anxious you were coming outside.”

“Don’t you _dare_ use that against me Doctor - that’s low and you know it. I just want to stay, just to look. I won't interact - you've met your past plenty, I haven't in this body. Don't deny me a simple few unnoticed minutes.”

He sighed, almost relenting against his better judgement, but reminding himself that she could end having a colossal set back if things carried on going from bad to worse. “No, we can’t do this Missy.”

She considered for a brief moment, creating a scene. Playing a damsel in distress and claiming the Doctor had abducted her. There would undoubtedly be a commotion and a few people wanting to play the hero and save her. She could slip off to a nice relaxed spot to sit and watch the chaos unfold while the Doctor was caught up with trying to talk his way out of it all.

Her eyes widened as she was brought from her thoughts at the feeling of something cold encircling her wrist. She stared at it then met his eyes first in shock then in anger. “what is this?!”

“Proximity teleporter- it will move you to the TARDIS if you are more than 30 meters from me.”

Missy cast him a disgusted look, “why do you feel this is necessary? And what happens if I deactivate it - have you set it to electrocute me or something equally as nasty?”

“Missy, I have no intention of hurting you and you know that. I’m just well aware that this is already going too far - you have what he was going to purchase, and you want to wait around and see him. I don’t like this, and I have to take precautions. You can’t interact with him.”

She laughed sardonically and shook her head, instinctively fiddling with the bracelet in annoyance, “you are an idiot Doctor. I’m hardly going to run off with him now, am I.”

He turned to look at her, not quite sure what he _did_ think she was going to do, but she was purposefully avoiding eye contact.

“I deactivated the sonic operation on your umbrella too - just in case….”

Now _that_ made her angry.

“I am going to override any remote call procedures you’ve put on my umbrella. You _really_ go too far sometimes.”

With an annoyed huff, she started to walk away from him, toward a small cluster of market stalls across the square. Pausing, she glanced at him over her shoulder, “i’m going over here - that ok, or are you going to panic and press a button, because I wouldn't want to _scare_ all these nice people now, _would I_?”

He froze for a second, wondering whether there was any intention behind her words - if she had considered creating a scene, or was simply referring to an unexpected teleport. He wasn’t entirely sure, and so he took a deep breath and remembered that she had become very defensive, fast, and he had really got her back up. He gestured to the stalls and decided to give her space, “go ahead, but you have ten minutes and then I am walking toward the TARDIS and you have no choice. If you don’t go with me you’ll teleport there.”

She spun around to face him and smiled with exaggerated gratitude while she curtsied, causing him to glance around to see if anyone was looking at them. Seeing that no one seemed to have even noticed the interaction between them, he relaxed. He knew she wouldn’t react well to him tampering with any device of hers, and wanted to avoid the situation worsening between them.

He turned to a nearby stall containing recycled electrical components, scouting it for anything of use while casting the occasional glance in Missy’s direction. She hadn’t so much as glanced back at him, but he wanted to give her some space to some degree.

Missy could tell he was keeping watch on her, but she ignored him, her hand grasping a rather unique looking trinket. Almost immediately, another hand reached for it at the same time. The hand, encased in a leather glove placed over hers and gripped firmly. She looked up and froze as she met the eyes of her past.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As this chapter is finished I thought I may as well post it. Next two are in first draft, so shouldn't be too long. 
> 
> I don't use a beta so try to wait a bit, then re edit on a different device to hopefully catch problems. Hopefully I don't miss too much!

She felt mesmerized - looking into the eyes of her past self, from so many lives ago. She remained still, not attempting to move her hand as she watched him intently.

The look in his eyes was equally as intense - he recognised her and yet he didn’t. It was a strange pull, and he wasn't certain why, but he knew in a second that she was a Time Lord. The way his hand moved, fingers slipping to her pulse point, was a subtle but sure confirmation of that fact. Beyond that though, he didn’t know.

He stared into her eyes, his gaze intensifying as he tried to push into her mind, but her barriers remained solid.

“I have something you want,” she said steadily, with a slight smile.

“Oh, and what is that?” he asked, his hand slipping up and grasping her wrist as he stepped around the table, ensuring he did not let her go.

She glanced at his hand on her wrist and rolled her eyes, “oh come on, I offer you something juicy and you act like i’m going to run away - i’m getting quite fed up with that line of thinking today. Look, be subtle, and I’ll show you, but the Doctor knows I have this and he will try and stop me giving it to you - _if_ I choose to give it you that is.”

The Master looked around, then leaned closer to her, “the Doctor's here? Where is he?”

She smiled knowingly. She remembered how long she had spent on earth when she had been him. That pull toward the Doctor had never wavered in all that time. Plans, however elaborate, clever or grandiose, they were never quite as fulfilling unless the Doctor was there to watch, and try to stop them. 

“Your Doctor - the one with the fondness for that bright yellow car - no idea, but his future self is here, and I’m talking _quite_ the future - many lifetimes. Now, I am rather annoyed with him today, so I am going to slip away for a bit, enjoy myself for a while. Would you care to accompany me - so that we can arrange for your intended purchase to make it safely to your TARDIS.”

He watched her, several questions in his mind, but he felt incredibly drawn to her, so he decided to find out exactly what it was about her that had him so interested.

“I just need you to do me a favour and give this bracelet a nice blast,” she said, glancing at her wrist, still held firmly in his grip.

He frowned as he glanced at it, “what is it?”

“An annoyance. If you help me get it off, then the Doctor won't know where we are or be able to follow us,” she said, her words giving her a rush of excitement.

He watched her inquistively, before slipping his other hand in his pocket and pulling out a small device. She didn’t cast so much as a glance over her shoulder, certain that the Doctor would intervene at any moment and not wanting to know how far he would let her go.

When he didn’t it occurred to her that the Master might be using a perception filter, and her excitement grew. The Doctor had no idea who she was talking to.

The Master lifted her wrist and in a few seconds, the bracelet came off, clattering to the table. She felt a rush of regret for a moment, and wasn't sure what to do - the Doctor wouldn't be letting her out again for a very long time after this. He had pissed her off considerably - but she hadn't meant to go even as far as engaging the Master in conversation, and now she found herself taking his arm as they walked away, heading for his TARDIS.

She really didn’t mean to leave, it wasn’t what she had planned at all, and she felt a strong pull back toward the Doctor when the Master opened the doors to his TARDIS. Despite this she stepped inside, the doors closing behind her as she looked around and smiled.

“Shall we discuss this deal over tea?” she asked.

“Deal? You’re bartering now, after i’ve released you from whatever...relationship you have with the Doctor? Really my dear, you are pushing your luck.”

“Let’s have tea in the conservatory, it’s always so quiet in there, but with a pleasant breeze that the library obviously lacks,” she said, her skirt billowing out as she took a spin while she she stepped around the console, smiling at him as she pushed open the doorway into the corridor and walked through, heading straight in the direction of the conservatory.

His eyes darkened, she was far too intimately acquainted with his TARDIS. No one ever went into the conservatory, he was careful about that.

“I could show you some very efficient upgrades for your laser gun,” she said, casting a glance over her shoulder as he followed her. "Hand you the hard drive you are looking for perhaps.”

“And what do you want in return?” he asked.

“I really don’t know,” she shrugged, “haven't thought past the whole just talking to you stage. And now here I am in your TARDIS. Honestly - i’m probably making a _terrible_ mistake, and I haven't really thought any of this out. You've always been so very good at plans - merticulously thought out, every contingency considered. It's very disconcerting not to have any kind of ordered plan, to make a monumental choice based purely on instinct and reaction, but here I am. So...tea?”

They soon found themselves sitting at a table set outside of the conservatory, perfectly placed to view the gardens beyond. Missy relaxed and began to feel somewhat at home. She smiled and turned to her former self, despite her guilt and regret building by the second. She spoke the words without much thought, “take me with you.”

“Take you _with_ me?” he asked in amazement. “I am certainly not in the habit of offering rides to hitchhikers, and I have no wish for companionship if that is what you are inferring.”

“Companionship?” she frowned then shook her head, “no, no that's not it at all. Very far from it. _Miles_ away.”

“Then what is it you want? And why the need to run from the doctor - because my dear, that is without a doubt, what you are doing here with me.”

She sighed and let her gaze wander out over the manicured trees in the garden, “he annoyed me.”

“Well, he has a habit of annoying me too, but the bracelet you needed me to remove suggests you were not a willing companion, and you are, of course, a Time Lord.”

She turned and met his eyes uncertainty, “I had an.. _.arrangement_ with him, but he upset me, so I wanted to shake him off for a while...I didn’t really plan to run, but a lift to my TARDIS is looking quite tempting about now.”

“You didn’t plan to run and yet here you are, running. What’s your name?” he asked.

“It’s Missy,” she said, the uncertainty creeping increasingly into her voice.

“And who are you?” he asked.

She placed her tea cup on the table carefully, unsure of how to answer as she looked down, taking a steadying breath before turning to face him.

“Oh, now that's the interesting part. I don’t know...it’s hard to count but… i'm in my 19th regeneration perhaps,” she said, her eyes meeting his as she flitted between caution and affection. “And it's been a very long time since this was my TARDIS.”

His eyes widened as he took in her words. Reaching across the table he took both of her hands in his and looked into her eyes as he leaned forward. She mirrored him, drawn to her past like a magnet as she allowed him access to her mind.

She didn't hold back, dropping all of her barriers to show him everything she could. It was fascinating to her, how their minds joined with such ease.

Eventually  he sat back, placing a hand on her shoulder as he looked into her eyes with sincerity, “thank you Missy.”

She nodded, searching his gaze and seeing merely acceptance and familiarity, she relaxed.

“I can take you to your TARDIS of course, but your offer to share your expertise intrigues me. We could accomplish much if we worked together - imagine controlling an experiment from two different points in time, two TARDIS’s, two brilliant minds. We could achieve true greatness.”

“We could,” she agreed, “and your offer is very enticing.”

“Oh I know you have doubts my dear," he  said. "You feel as if you are betraying him - but might I remind you, as you have shown me, that you are his prisoner. You are surely expected to escape on occasion, does he really assume you will just remain there?”

“Oh I could escape easily enough - I didn't hold anything back from you, so you understand that. If I do this and truly walk away, then I can’t go back.”

“Why would you want to?" he asked. "Unless to extract useful technology from a quantum fold chamber, what other need could you have to remain there? Your loyalty to the Doctor and your desire to for his friendship is skewed. It’s he who needs to change - don’t you see? He needs to understand that changing you to be like him is not friendship - _he_ changing to accept _you_ , that is another matter, but he won’t will he?”

“No,” she sighed, “he won’t. I do want to change and I want our friendship back with him, but if he can only see me as a flawed entity that needs to change then maybe he’s the one who's not ready.”

“Exactly, but of course, that saddens you, doesn’t it? I do dislike this attachment you have for him.”

“Oh come now, don’t pretend you don’t care about him, you would hate to be in a universe without him. You can say that’s because he’s the only worthy adversary you have, the only one who can match you intellectually, but really, it’s because he means a hell of alot more than that to you," she said, shaking her head. "You can't lie to me. I know every thought you've ever had - the depth of your feeling."

He sighed and watched her, “so where does that leave you? Running back to him, or away from him. I will not stand by and watch while you seek forgiveness from him and ask to be put back in a prison! Not when I don't understand your game."

“It isn’t like that,” she said. “And i'm not playing a game. I _want_ to change, and I don’t know how else to do that without him. But you’re right, he does need to change too. We are polar opposites in some ways, but that only means we need to meet in the middle somewhere.”

“No Missy, don’t compromise who you are for him, we will never match his concept of rightness. To do so would mean we lose ourself in the process. Has it occurred to you that it might not be him who needs to show you the right path? Come with me and let me remind you who we are, what we can accomplish.”

She took a deep breath, things were moving too fast for her to process her actions. She had already been gone for long enough that the Doctor would think she had walked away from him. Her thoughts raced in her head and she didn't know what that would do to their relationship. If she turned back now then their friendship could still be repairable, but to leave, especially with her past self, felt like an irreversible decision.

"I want to leave, but I want to talk to him first - I can’t just turn my back on him. We’ve done this for 70 years….”

“Missy,” he sighed. “If you go back he can try and entrap you. Just leave - we can go back to your TARDIS via the scenic route. I have some ideas that I think will excite you. You have been sedate for too long, forgotten what you are capable of. You’re brilliant and creative, if I do say so myself - don’t let him take that from you.”

“He isn’t…” she said, with uncertainty.

“He controls what you have access to - you can’t use your mind, your talents, your exceptional skill."

Missy felt tears beginning to form and turned her head away from him. 

With a careful firmness, he moved his hands to her face, one sliding up her cheek and the other cupping her chin until he turned her back to face him. 

He felt confused and intigued as he watched her try to hide her tears.

"I'm working on a project - at the terraforming stage, for want of a better word," he said, choosing not to comment on the emotion she displayed. "You'll remember it well - but imagine how much more successful it could be if you revisited it." 

He paused, observing her carefully as she took a steadying breath, "leave. Right now, and reclaim yourself.”

She felt tears spilling and took a shaky breath, trying to keep her emotions in check.

“Ok,” she whispered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first draft of the next chapter is done, but after that just the draft of the final one - weird way to write I know, but that's how it happens sometimes. I have to know where i'm going! So hopefully I will get a rhythm going and update reasonably. I have time as well as stress over the summer and those two things together equal writing because it's my go to coping mechanism for life - but anyways, enough of my personal madness lol

The Doctor cursed himself for how colossally this had gone wrong. He replayed the events in his mind, and he didn't think that he would honestly do anything differently. He had to stop her from meeting her past self, and if she wouldn’t go back to the TARDIS then he had to take steps to ensure he could get her back there. His only real mistake was in stepping back when she was angry with him.

He could not detect a TARDIS in the vicinity, but he couldn’t assume that meant the Master was not here. The odds that he had selected that location for a base for whatever he was planning, and not just shopping for the hard drive were reasonable. If Missy had found him, then she could very well still be on the planet. If he could find even a shred of evidence that she was, then he would stay, and hope that he could find her and ensure she knew that he would not give up on her.

So he remained, because to leave meant turning his back on her - even if she had done that to him. 

* * *

Three months had passed and the Doctor had not caught up with her. She didn’t know how to feel about that - or what she actually wanted to happen. She was rarely alone, and so her mind remained busy - busier and more focused and accomplished than she had felt in decades. It was a good feeling - she would go so far as to describe it as fulfilling if only she wasn't stifled by the wrenching void of the Doctors absence. She admonished herself whenever such feeling arose - after all, it was she who had walked away, not him.

She had covered her tracks at first, but gradually became more and more lax - whether intentionally or not she wasn’t sure. She hated the sadness that engulfed her when she let her thoughts drift to him. If he wanted to find her he would have done - and if he did, then she was certain she had done enough by now to damage their friendship beyond repair.

The thought alone caused her too much grief to handle.

The life she had turned to was hers - not a test or chaperoned excursion. Surely that in itself was better.

Their operation was working incredibly smoothly - the combined resources of two TARDIS’s and two brilliant minds, streamlining their work. They had extracted minerals and resources, sucking the planet dry of anything useful.

The Master found that they worked seamlessly - each completely in tune with the other.  He was happy that his future was back on track, and finding enjoyment in the things he always had. He had taken the lead at first, merely showing her what she could be working on and allowing her to involve herself when she chose to. It didn’t take long for her to embrace their work and take the lead with upgrading and refining their hardware. Her knowledge was invaluable - she had discussed her memories of the project with him and it was clear that he was alone the first time, so they were well aware that they were changing their timeline, but it bothered them little. Their experiment was the priority, and as long as the basic fabric of everything else held together, then the ripples their interference caused to the rest of the universe did not concern them.

They remained in relatively close  proximity to each other, aware that their memories would not be retained should they part. They took precautions by recording their activities together in detail, creating an easily accessible log as a contingency plan which was archived in both TARDIS’s should they become separated, and an alert system built into their consoles to show them where to look and auto pilot their TARDIS’s back. together. On the odd, planned occasion that one of them needed to go off world, Missy always declined, afraid on some level that if their contingencies failed, that she would be alone and in essence, quite lost. Without the Doctor, or her past self, she did not know what her place in the universe would be, and that left her with a highly unsettled feeling and so she stayed, insisting he leave to do any field work.

The Master stood in a control room situated on the mountainside. As he observed the monitors and various readouts from machinery monitoring the multitude of processes they had put in place, he turned and smiled at the sound of Missy’s TARDIS materialising in the room.

She emerged from the TARDIS and returned his smile. Despite now being the queen, and he the king, of this world, they still wore their usual attire, but appeared to adopt a regal air about them both. Missy was thoroughly enjoying her role as queen, and he was pleased to see her embrace it, and the exhilaration she felt when working with him to create mass hypnosis on a much wider scale than he had done before.

She approached him and stood beside him, amusement dancing in her eyes, “they’re having a banquet in our honour again tonight.”

“Good, good,” he laughed. “We may as well insist they do that every day until the food supplies are exhausted."

“That won’t be long,” she said, pausing as an edge of hesitation crept into her voice. “We will have to move to the final stage soon.”

“Yes, and what an impressive sight that will be - from the safety of our TARDIS’s of course.”

“Of course,” she said, with a smile, before hesitating. “A planet wide earthquake - the ground splitting open and tearing the world apart, it will be quite the impressive sight - I do though...have reservations.”

“Oh Missy,” he said with an edge of disappointment as he turned to her. “We have discussed this. Why would the lives of any of these people matter to you? They don't serve you willingly, they are just hypnotised puppets with no genuine loyalty.”

“I know that, but...our approach is heavy handed - the entire population could die, and all it would take is another day of work - we could streamline this so much more,” she said.

“Well, some proportion of the population will die and some won't, that's inevitable,” he said, in a matter of fact tone. “Then we will take what we have accomplished and leave - find a new world to rule over. A delay of an entire day would mean the seismic shifts could increase and slow us down even more. Missy - regrets are no good, it’s just a relapse, remember that you are thinking more freely now.”

“I was always _thinking freely_ \- I know you don’t agree - that you think I couldn't possibly have stayed in the vault for so long if my will were entirely my own, but it honestly was my decision to stay there because I really could have left.”

“You know my feeling on that,” he said, not willing to discuss it with her. “What of the experiment Missy? I will not let you destroy our work.”

“And I wouldn’t want to - I've worked just as hard on this as you have. I just….think we could consider a less brutal methodology, or... _well,_ evacuate the planet first,” she said, her voice betraying a degree of embarrassment at the suggestion

“Evacuate the planet? The _entire_ planet? It may be a small population, but how do you propose to do that?” he asked, looking at her in amazement.

“In our TARDIS’s, and the vessels they have here - they have abandoned colony vessels here - they could easily be made use of, we can evacuate them in batches, relocate them somewhere we aren't planning on burning. We don’t have to just walk away and leave an entire planet to suffer in the aftermath. We are capable of a far more refined process than this.”

He shook his head in amazement, “Well, if it troubles you this much Missy, then perhaps you should put out a distress call - the Doctor can come racing down here to save all these people and we could even leave him a calling card to ensure he knows who is responsible. We do not evacuate planets and rescue people - that’s the Doctor’s life, not ours. He has polluted your sense of self by trying to turn you into him.”

“Bring him to us? Why? To push 1 billion people to certain death and taunt him with it?” she said.

“Why ever not?” he said, baffled. “He will likely find a way to save them, and then you can enjoy our riches without your _conscience_ troubling you.” He sighed, “your sentimentality for these people is problematic Missy, but I can compromise. Bring him here - send a distress call - but time it well. He arrives here too soon and he can ruin our work.”

“You want him to have a ringside seat with no way of saving anyone,” she said.

“But he likely _will_ save them - and then you can walk away _feeling_ better, if you really must. He will make the whole process more challenging too - you remember how enjoyable that is, surely? He will face two of us this time. How can we resist inviting him to watch our planet wide destruction?” he said, with a laugh.

Missy sighed, feeling conflicted at his words. Her intention was not to taunt the Doctor, but she had to admit, it _was_ fun to reveal a plan to him and watch him try to stop her. It _had_ always been enjoyable. “Ok. We bring him here, but nobody dies - including him.”

He laughed at the absurdity of exacting their plans but preserving life in the process. “I am not interested in killing anyone Missy, but some death will be inevitable. Just a consequence of the plan initiating. It doesn't benefit me to kill the Doctor, but I will stop him if he gets in the way.”

She sighed and looked away, but felt a chill as her gaze fell upon her device on his desk. Her eyes snapped to his and she fought the surge of panic that instantly gripped her.

“Why do you have this?” she asked, attempting to project a casual disinterest, but aware that she was failing and the tinge of fear cracking her facade was obvious.

She crossed the room and reached for it, his hand moving a split second too late, allowing her to close her fingers around the metal casing and take it. She held it tightly, clutching it to her chest as her mind raced to make sense of it. He had seen it when they were in her TARDIS, and he had expressed interest, but she had attempted to acknowledge his curiosity in the unfamiliar technology with disinterest. Attempting instead to divert his attention elsewhere and minimise the importance of the device. She thought she had been successful, but coupled with the way she had closed off her mind to him, he had clearly become suspicious. 

He watched her in slight amusement, but with a growing intrigue at her reaction. She was possessive over the device and hadn’t explained it’s operation in much detail. It was clearly something he needed to explore.

“Scientific interest my dear, nothing more. You showed me some basic functions, but we are both aware it does more - show me,” he said.

She met his eyes, her gaze steady, but oh so uncertain. He could read her easily, three months of free access to each others minds had meant that any advantage she had over him was no longer an issue. He knew her just as well as she knew him now, but he was acutely aware that her mental walls were becoming stronger - she was shielding herself from him and this caused his suspicion to grow rapidly.

The device felt heavier than it used to be - it’s weight in her hand no longer an amusement. It felt wrong now, and to share with her past self it’s full function would mean it would be a weapon again - that lives would undoubtedly be lost. It gave her a flash of fear - she wondered if she would push the button, aiming it at a living person and feel the thrill of the confusion she put them in in their final moments. The way she told them exactly what she was going to do if they did as she requested, and they still did it. Human nature she assumed, sweet talk, beg, scramble for survival.

Sometimes she wished they had refused to respond. She wonders if she would have just killed them anyway - a forfeit for not playing her game.

“It’s mine, and I need some things that are mine. We share everything - even our thoughts. So don’t get suspicious and jealous about my toys. You have your own.”

He paused and smiled, before leaning over to his console and pressing a button.

She tensed, realising he was summoning a servant to them. It was not their protocol - to bringing humans to their operations base. Neither spoke until the woman entered the room, bowing slightly to them both before waiting in silence for their orders.

The Master watched Missy intently, her discomfort was obvious and it fascinated him. He stepped around her until he was standing almost behind her - ensuring he still had a clear view of the device and the servant. His arms reached around her, a hand grasping her forearm as he raised her arm, turning the device in her hand until it was aimed at the servant.

He felt her trembling under his hold, and his suspicion that this was a lethal weapon was instantly confirmed. “Demonstrate it’s function my dear. You can't continue to hide it from me - we are after all, the same person. We will not hold secrets.”

She felt nauseous and lightheaded, her mind instantly falling blank and numb. She wasn't the Doctor, she wasn't like him - she had waited seventy years and still, he tested her. Still she was not enough for him. Not unless she changed everything she could - but here she stood with her past self who was also testing her. Allowing either of them to shape her into who they wanted her to be felt wrong. If she allowed them to change her enough that they would finally be happy - what then, would be left of her?

She felt the tremble coursing through her - her other hand moving up to tap the screen. She turned her head just enough to see her past self nod in obvious approval. She could do right by him, but never it seemed, the Doctor.

Her fingers moved, accessing the vaporisation setting and he smiled. She had shown him - they would have no secrets not unless he needed to of course. 

“I see Missy. Now demonstrate,” he said.

She gripped the device tighter in her hand, adrenaline coursing through her mind and body. Her only focus were his words.

“This is a very impressive device - but he doesn't appreciate that does he?” he paused so briefly that she had no chance to respond even if she had chosen to. “Oh no, you don’t need to answer me, I already know.”

She felt rapidly lightheaded as she held the device steady, her hearts thudding almost violently in her chest. She spoke, her mouth suddenly very dry and her voice incapable of anything more than a whisper as her eyes bored into the servant.

“Say something nice.”

The servant smiled, her desire to please leaving her incapable of replying in any other way. Her eyes met Missy’s adoringly as she spoke.

“You’re beautiful Mistress.”

Missy abruptly broke eye contact and pulled her arm from the Master’s grasp with a hard wrench. Her hearts felt as thought they would burst from her chest and her head spun alarmingly. This was not who she was, not anymore. She could hypnotise, toy with people, but she would not murder them where they stood.

She moved fast to the other side of the room until both she, and her device were as far away from him as she could manage, before she returned her gaze to the woman. She was watching her in total hypnotised admiration, not even questioning what Missy had been on the cusp of doing to her.

“Leave,” Missy said, her voice almost breaking as she fought hard to hold back tears. She held her voice steady enough to still maintain a semblance of an authoritative tone. She would not cry in front of her past at the act of ending a human life, however sick it made her feel to destroy somebody at point blank range.

The Master watched her as she visibly relaxed when the woman had exited the room. His gaze then quizzical and somewhat remorseful at the intensity of her conflict. He shook his head and walked toward the door before turning and looking at her, “you disappoint me at times.”

She held his gaze steadily, until he turned back and walked through the door, and then took a deep, steadying breath and returned her attention to the monitors. She felt a big wave of guilt and tried to sort out the jumbled mess of thoughts in her head. Why should she feel guilt for caring about the aftermath of their work, or the senseless killing of one life? He had said that he was better placed to guide her back to who she was, than the Doctor was to guide her to a different path. In truth she didn’t think either path felt right but she needed some help to get her head straight, and the comfortable familiarity she felt with the Master seemed so right. So when she disappointed herself - she then felt wrong - it made sense just to embrace  what they were doing, but not this. Not cold blooded murder - she just wouldn't do that anymore.

She was where she had chosen to be, it had been her decision alone to walk away from the Doctor. She would have left, but she had no clue where else she really belonged anymore. Bringing the Doctor to them - the thought left her very conflicted. Her younger self would enjoy the Doctor coming in and trying to stop them. Missy though, saw little enjoyment in leaving a population to die and watching the Doctor scrambling to save them. She hoped on some level that the Doctor would actually manage to stop them.

She focused on the screen and concentrated - trying and failing to push her thoughts of the Doctor to the back of her mind. She began to wonder if she could ever do anything more than simply disappoint herself or the Doctor.

No choice she made felt right anymore. She began to wonder who she really could be if she was so disassociated from her past, yet would never be good enough for the Doctor. She couldn't become like either of then without losing her sense of self. 

She had never felt so lost.


	4. Chapter 4

The following morning they returned to the control room, making final adjustments and alterations to the equipment. Missy immersed herself in her work, distracting herself from the thoughts that plagued her. She smirked as she examined the equipment readout, immediately noticing several issues that her younger self had not considered, that she could iron out. Revisiting her work was a fascinating concept  

The previous night had been another in a long line of decadent banquets, with the hypnotised population, continuously under their thrall, thanks to a clever use of radio waves - serving their every need. Missy would be lying if she even pretended that she didn’t enjoy it. She had thrown herself into the festivities - eaten, drunk, enjoyed the many performances put on for their amusement only. As the night drew to a close they danced together while the band played, her skirt billowing out as he spun her, while their adoring crowd looked on in approval, admiring ther elegance and grace.

As they danced she laughed, feeling free and happy while their subjects watched them in hypnotised awe, applauding them for no reason at all. It pleased them both, and they took centre stage, relishing the praise and adoration. If their days could be spent in that way then she could be happy, but everything was coloured by the complexities of plans and the ruthlessness of the resulting actions. She wasn’t entirely sure how she would feel if they simply caused a localised earthquake, inevitably resulting in some death - but to know they would devastate the entire planet - it bothered her. She wished it didn’t - being ruthless was far more straightforward.

In some ways, ruling a planet in this way was easier on her conscience. There was no cause to consider what to do with dissidents, and she was grateful for that, as she suspected that she would simply not be in agreement with herself on those matters.

They eventually grew bored of the festivities and left the building - a former school, now their royal banquet hall, and walked up the pathway to the peak of the mountainside arm in arm as the music faded quietly into the background. She giggled as their subjects ran after them, eager to ensure their path was clear and demonstrating alarm that they would want to walk up there without being driven. The Master pushed several of them to one side, uttering annoyances at them and deciding to make some minor adjustments to tweak their desperation to serve. They were becoming like an annoying swarm of flies, buzzing around them.

The Master eventually pushed one to the ground and Missy couldn’t help but laugh at his annoyance. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow, and she clutched his arm tighter in response and pulled him faster along, laughing as she told him they could probably get a few minutes head start on their adoring servants.

Finally ridding themselves of their puppets, they stood together and surveyed the world they ruled over - the buildings that once housed businesses and shops were now run down, most if not all looted when the people initially rioted at the sudden oppressive rule. Small billows of smoke were visible in areas where fires had burned uncontrollably, the people left homeless, forced to gather together, making the mass mind control so much easier.

In some ways it was too easy. What they were doing was impressive on such a wide scale, but far too straightforward.. She could only assume some relatively harmless collateral damage to the populus, and that allowed her to focus on her work and not consider the impact they were having. She was having fun, and accomplishing an enhanced version of work she had previously not succeeded in. That was an exhilarating feeling - but a wave of sadness coursed through her whenever she was alone, and her thoughts returned straight to the Doctor.

She wondered if he had given up on her - returned to the stars with his latest human to show them then wonders of the universe, or was he looking for her. She felt a pang of remorse at the thought that he might be searching for her, but could not help the concern at his motive. Would he simply be seeking her, just to haul her back to the vault and lock her up, or did he miss her, like she missed him. Would he be thinking of her, and feeling the absence of her in his life that she felt whenever she was alone. She was grateful that she was not alone often to expLore those thoughts further - her past self, seeing her lost in thought had looked at her in disdain and accused her of ‘pining over the Doctor’. The anger she reacted with told him everything, and she quickly suppressed it, trying to hide the deep sense of loss she felt when she thought of him.

Her past self made sense to her after all -  the Doctor did not and could not accept her for who she was. Making her like him would never be friendship. She tried to hold on to his words, but a part of her still just didn’t want to accept them.

She blinked, her thoughts broken as she realised that he was speaking to her.

The Master stood back from his monitor and looked at her, aware that her mind was elsewhere,  “the systems are ready.  _ Are you _ ?”

She met his eyes with a hesitant expression, “we can approach this with greater precision....”

“Don’t attempt to disguise your true feelings - we can’t hide anything from each other. The potential loss of life troubles you - and that fact troubles  _ me _ ,” he said.

“I just know we can accomplish what we need to without wiping out the planet,” she said, feeling almost embarrassed to tell him that she didn't want to wipe out an entire population.

He shook his head, “Missy, If you really must, then send the distress call, but wait until our plans are well underway, and then we stay off world and observe the process. It won't do you good to meet him, he will take the opportunity to manipulate you to returning with him, but we can watch him from a distance. Afterall there would be no fun in summoning him if we couldn't watch him run around trying to save everyone!” he chuckled.

“Thank you,” she said.

“He  _ will _ try to sabotage everything,” he said. “So we must be absolutely certain of the timescale.”

“I know - so we start the process now, he will be too caught up in saving everyone to stop us,” she said.

He nodded, offering her his arm, “let's move your TARDIS out of here, and we can watch from inside mine. But don’t send for him until the right moment.”

She accepted his arm and watched as he casually pushed a button and pulled a lever on their way out of the room, beginning the process.

The ground beneath them began to shake.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Doctor stumbled and placed his hand on the wall of one of the now run down buildings in the town square, steadying himself. He had tried and failed to break the hold that the Masters had over the population and so he laid low, pretending to be also under their thrall to blend in. He had learnt enough through his observations to know that Missy was playing an active role in the situation - she was worshiped by the masses just as the Master was. He feared she was lost to him now - three months with her past could have been enough to put her back in touch with who she used to be. Still he remained on the planet however - he couldn’t leave without trying. 

He quickly returned to his TARDIS, the low rumblings shaking the ground not yet dangerously strong, but he knew it was only a matter of time. He just needed a sign - and so he went to his console and began scanning the planet again - an activity he did frequently, to look for any indication of her whereabouts. Their operations base was clearly shielded, and it frustrated him that he could not see it - two versions of herself working together clearly could accomplish much.

He paused, staring confused at the screen as he realised he had definitely found what he was looking for. He frowned, pondering whether it was a trap or a plea for help, but either way, she was leading him to her. He had no choice but to follow.  
  
From the console room in his TARDIS, the Master watched the screen, observing the huge letters she had imprinted on the ground using controlled detentions. He turned to her, confused.

“X-O-X-O-M. What does that mean?” he asked.

“XO means kisses and hugs and the M is for Missy..or Master..maybe I should have put two M’s - Isn't what you meant by leaving a calling card?”

“Well I imagined more of a nasty surprise than a friendly note, but he  _ will _ know it's from you. I wish you had waited though - your eagerness to bring him here could be hugely problematic,” he said, slightly annoyed. “We will have to return to the surface if he intereferes at this stage, it’s too early.”

“I thought you wanted the challenge?” she said. “Isn’t it boring if it all goes too smoothly?”

“I prefer to have my plans firmly in place and an exit strategy ready before I lead him to us. It’s different when we do something we want him to watch, when I had no intention of involving him, it changes thing. I don’t have to tell you that - you do remember who you were before you regenerated don’t you? Sometimes I wonder if you have some form of amnesia,” he said.

Missy laughed, watching him in slight amusement, “oh I know who I am, who I was and everything I’ve done. I don’t regret the lives I’ve lived - I loved being you, you’re brilliant and focused and in control, even if you don’t always think things all the way through - at least when he's around.”

He raised an eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look, “why, the fun is in the game when he’s around, the conclusion doesn’t always matter at times. If you don’t rush _ summoning _ him, then we could work out a brilliant exit - push each other into the volcanic earth before his eyes, and teleport back here to watch his reaction!”

“You know my dear, “ she said with a broad smile. “You might actually be my favourite.”

The Master laughed and shook his head, “well be that may, I fear you do have regrets, or why the need for all this repentance with the Doctor, and attempts to change your true nature?”

“My only regrets are the lives i’ve taken - I can’t explain it to you - you have lifetimes before you get to this point, but you will,”

“Well my dear,” he said, watching her intently. “Timelines can change - we will know soon enough - if we feel the ripples of time altering around us. But for now we have the Doctor to consider - you have been rather...enthusiastic about bringing him here,” he said.

She glanced at him and laughed, “oh don’t pretend you don’t enjoy bringing him to you right as all your plans are in motion, showcasing your skills! He will never admit it, but that look he gets when we reveal ourselves to him - he feels that exhilaration too.”

“I’m sure he does,” the Master said, sharing a knowing smile with her.

“You know Missy, there is a cosmos of danger and distress that he could be chasing - atrocities for the sake of cruelty itself but no other goal- not our style at all,” he said. “Yet he always chases us, he always seeks us out. He can pretend it’s the other way round, but we know, don’t we?”

“Yes, we know,” she said with a smile. “He can be ever so ungrateful too - all these times we bring our operations to his favourite planet, so he doesn’t even need to work hard at finding us, and he pretends he’s not pleased to see us half the time!” she said.

He shook his head with a laugh, “oh but we know the truth Missy, he’s playing this game just as much as we are. He will never walk away from us.”

They both contemplated his words and fell silent as they looked out at the planet’s surface. It would only be a matter of moments until all hell began to break loose for the people below them.

\--------------------------------------

 

The Doctor stared at the screen as he looked at he message she had left him. She had made it very obvious where she wanted him to be, and he pondered whether she was leading him into a trap, mocking him with the slaughter of the population, or maybe, there was the smallest chance that she actually wanted him to help her. He never allowed himself to fully embrace the hope he held for her, because he had tried and failed before to help her. 

He decided to gather as much information as he could about the planet and the activities of Missy and the Master before setting foot on the planet. He needed to act fast, as the seismic levels were rising, but they were not at an alarming scale yet, so he had some time.

He sat and read through pages and pages of environmental and atmospheric readings, and began to notice patterns which gave him hints as to their intention. Considering next, how they were manipulating the environment, he came to a conclusion about the equipment and process that might be using and decided to make his move, and take steps to sabotage the processes, and at least slow down the seismic activity, while he found a way to stop it  - and them.

He had materialised in a basement of the beacon of heat that the equipment was giving off. They weren’t exactly hiding themselves, not in the slightest. Missy’s message made that crystal clear, but he was abe to find the heart of their operation far too easily. Approaching the machine room, he soniced the door open, frowning as he realised the lack of surveillance and intruder alerts visible, and got straight to work.

He had time to do considerable intervention, until, absorbed in his work, he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head before he froze, his eyes closing as he fell hard against a console, his vision fading fast as he slumped to the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

“You let him walk right in! Why switch off the entire intruder system?! It’s one thing calling him here, but another to just hand our entire operation to him! I should not have listened to you - pandered to your sentimentality.”

Their voices, muffled but distinct, from somewhere close.

“It's not sentimentality it's morality, we don't _have_ to wipe out the entire planet.”

“Well then, your morality is going to be our undoing Missy.”

“Or maybe it will be what saves us,” she hissed.

He opened his eyes and the room began to take shape through the fog in front of him - his head ached from the blow he barely recalled, and the sudden restriction to his movement when he tried to shift position, soon revealed to him that he was tied to a chair.

They were close by - a few meters away, their voices fading in and out as he blinked his eyes attempting to focus. There was tension in the room - they were in conflict and had been thrown off of their carefully controlled plans. From what he could tell, Missy appeared to be the reason. Trying to move his arms, he realised his arms and legs were bound tightly to the steel chair he was secured to, and his eyes focused quickly at the realisation that he could not loosen his bonds.

His vision clear, he took in the room and the two people in front of him. They were both sitting on chairs placed in front of monitors, turned around to face each other, their attention solely on each other. Missy's gaze was defiant and focused, while the Master's was incredulous. The room appeared to be a large technological control room - far more advanced than possible for the natives of the planet.

The Master looked across at her, he was clearly frustrated, and waiting for her to respond. The Doctor realised that he was drifting in and out of consciousness as he had not heard the question. He focused, forcing himself to stay awake and assess the situation fast.

“I _didn’t_ plan to let him get in there unnoticed for long enough to do this much damage. I don’t want him to sabotage our work.”

“Missy, I said we needed to build contingencies first - I am making a massive compromise here as it is  with letting you call him right to us, yet alone practically handing this to him! We don't call him until we are ready for him - you of all people know that.”

She glanced casually over her shoulder at the Doctor, her eyes resting on the edge of the chair, but not appraising him for even the briefest moment, “I think we woke him up with our disagreement.”

“Ah, Doctor, you’re finally awake I see,” the Master said. “You certainly found Missy’s invitation quickly - you must have been eager to find her to see it that fast.”

The Doctor blinked, focusing his eyes as took in the Master. It had been so long since he had seen him in that incarnation, and memories came flooding back fast. He focused solely on him, keeping Missy in his peripheral vision for the time being, and aware that she was doing the same.

“Huge earthquake, breaking open most of the surface of the planet to give you access to the unique materials buried deep under the ground. Certainly efficient, but ruthless considering all of the people whose lives will be at risk. Don’t think for a moment I haven't taken precautions to stop this from wiping out these people.”

“Oh really, you don’t think we would leave our _entire_ system open to you, do you? You didn’t have time to do that much damage. We can recover the process. Sit. Watch, Doctor,” the Master said.

“Underestimating me? I didn’t need long with the security switched off - check the seismic readings.”

Missy spun her chair around and tapped the screen, scrolling through the data, “the lower chambers are giving distorted readings - he’s done something. I didn’t think he would get further than the bottom security layer - but he’s gone deeper.”

The Master pushed his chair back in annoyance as he stopped up, walking over to Missy. She stood abruptly, facing him as he raised a hand to her rest in her hair, running his fingers through searchingly. She stared into his eyes, fully aware of what he was looking for, and held his gaze with some difficulty once he found it.

He pulled out a hair pain, slightly larger and with a more rounded edge than her others, and stepped back, holding it out in front of her, “keep this in your hand, don’t hesitate to use it on him if he tries anything. I’m going to check the readings down there.”

She took it from his hand and held it tightly as she met his eyes.

“Missy, I mean it. _Use it_ ,” he said with sincerity.

She merely nodded, and turned back to the screen, the hairpin still held in her hand.

They both remained silent until the lift doors had closed and the Master had begun his descent to the lower levels. Missy immersed herself in the seismic readings, concentrating only on the screen, aware that the Doctors eyes were on her.

“If the planet were uninhabited this wouldn’t be an evil plan - just greedy. But it is, and a lot of people will die. You know that though of course, that’s why you left that message for me, inviting me here.”

Missy ignored him, standing up and moving to another monitor, entering commands.

“And I don't think you did that because you want to torment me with the deaths of this population, I think you did that because you don't want this at all. You want to stop this, and you want my help to do that.”

She froze, her eyes closing as she took a deep breath, steadying herself.

“Missy, look at me,” he said.

They remained silent for a few moments until she turned in her chair, meeting his eyes. He was struck by the insecurity he saw from her. She steeled herself fast and held out her arm, pointing the rounded end of her hair pain at him. He assumed it be a Tissue Compression Eliminator with the limited view he had of it. He tensed immediately, maintaining eye contact but aware of the TCE in his peripheral vision.

“Of course I don’t want to torment you with death, just because I didn’t appreciate the way you treated me in the marketplace, doesn’t mean i’m going to go on some evil genocidal spree and taunt you with it,” she paused, staring at the hairpin still held in her hand and aimed at him before raising her eyes again to meet his. “I didn't intend to leave with him, or do any of this.”

“I know Missy,” he said with sincerity. “So work with me, we can reach a compromise here - prevent the loss of life. You don’t have the right to strip this planet of its resources, and I _will_ stop you, but we don’t _have_ to play that game. You don’t want this, so just stop, and come back with me. This is just a setback, the fact that you don’t want people to die shows that you've changed Missy. It doesn’t erase all the decades we've spent together - all the progress you've made.”

Missy closed her eyes and took in his words - her heart filling with warmth and hope for them, but not prepared to say it out loud. She lowered her hair pin and stood, walking over to him, hating how quickly her tears began to fall but reaching out and taking one of his hands as she stooped down to get closer to him.

His movement was considerably restricted due to his wrists being tied to the arms of the chair, but he met her eyes with honesty, “untie me, and we can stop this. He can leave, and we can go home.”

“Home, Doctor,” she said, a tinge of anger in her voice, “is a prison. I don't know if I can go back to that.”

“I’ve tried to make it a home for you, I honestly have. He has coloured your view on your own decisions, think about why you asked me for help in the first place. Consider why you don’t want this death toll on your hands. You've made so much progress, don't throw it away now. Where _is_ home Missy?” he asked. “I promise you that you will go home when you are ready to, but where is that? What do you think of when you think of home?"

She remained silent, her gaze focusing on the cold metal armrest of the chair. Taking a breath, she hoped she could speak the words without tears falling, barely managing to.

“You,” she whispered, as she placed her hair pin securely back in her hair. “I think of you.”

She sighed as dropped to her knees and shifted until she was beside him, shuffling closer as she rested her head on his lap and flung her arms around him, holding his lap in an awkward hug

“I missed you Doctor,” she whispered.

“I missed you too,” he said warmly, wishing he could move his hands to stroke her hair.

She remained, facing away from him, her head not moving from his lap. He could feel the slight shudders coursing through her body as she cried, and he remained silent, letting her work through whatever she was feeling.

They remained in the same position, even when the doors opened suddenly and the Master walked into the room, stopping abruptly in front of them.

“Oh how...unbecoming! Missy, do you have to do that?” he said as he gestured to her.

She raised her head from the Doctor’s lap but remained sitting on the floor, one arm leaning on his lap, not wanting to reduce the space between them.

She looked up at the Doctor, “if we complete our work we could localise the eruptions and warn the population so they can take precautions to move to safety.”

“Missy, localising eruptions would add weeks on to our work and reduce efficiency to an almost unworkable level. Now please get up, this is just undignified,” the Master said in distaste.

Missy remained where she was, her arm draped somewhat protectively over the Doctor's lap. The Master shook his head, walking over to her as he held out his hand, his gaze intent. She hesitated for a moment, and then reached up, taking his hand as she stood.

She met his eyes with sincerity, “untie the Doctor, he can help us to extract the resources without harming anyone.”

“You’re negotiating for him now?” the Master said in amazement.

“Missy, that’s not how to deal with this, draining this planet of everything is going to leave the population without the ability to trade with other worlds - they will slip into poverty,” the Doctor said.

“And they’ll deal with that when it happens. It's just a little inconvenience compared to wiping them all out! _I’m_ making the deal here Doctor - you help us to do this all nice and gently, or we do it our way and everyone dies. Which is it?” Missy said.

The Master chuckled, enjoying the Doctor’s dilemma, and feeling somewhat relieved by Missy’s move. He had underestimated her and assumed she would just do the Doctor’s bidding - her sentimentality for the peoples of the planet was a drawback, but there was still time to work on that if he could convince her to leave with him.

The Doctor sighed in resignation, “I won’t help you, at the cost of this world’s resources! But if the seismic readings increase any further it will soon be too late. Evacuation might be the only option left if we remain here talking about it for much longer. Untie me now and we can stop it together. Wait any longer and a mass evacuation is the only option."  
  
“I am not delaying our work to give the Doctor time to save everyone!” the Master exclaimed.  
  
“One hour - that won’t interfere with our plans, and I can localise the eruptions before they get out of our control. Start with the outlying unoccupied parts of this world, and engineer it to work it’s way inward. It’ll be more refined, and our control won’t be interrupted until it hits this part of the planet, so I can send out some new commands and the Doctor can happily march the hypnotised population away to safety. Then we can sit back and watch a much bigger eruption. It will be quite pretty from a distance!”

“Oh alright, but Missy, I warn you, do not let him sidetrack you. Set up the transmission and join me in the lower chamber,” he said.

“What then Missy?" You can’t remain together indefinitely - there will be side effects, you’ll create paradoxes without even trying to. Not least the issues with memory retention.” the Doctor said, stopping the Master as he reached the door. “You move on to the next phase of this project - if you aren't happy now, I can guarantee you that whatever you are planning, you will only take issue more as it goes along.”

She looked from the Master to the Doctor almost hesitantly, “I can't come back, not now.”

“Why? I haven't given up on you, and you shouldn't give up on yourself,” the Doctor said.

Missy felt the hope rise in her hearts at the Doctors words, and fought the urge to step toward him and hug him

" _Missy,”_ the Master said, “he will only lock you back in the vault - do you honestly believe he will let you out of there any time soon? Don’t be fooled by his talk.”

“You’re right,” the Doctor said, his gaze on the Master. “I will put her back in there, but not to punish her in any way. We need to address why she left and what she’s done, and make sure she’s ready to go out again before she does. _And she will_ , i’m not just locking her in there, that wouldn’t help her in the slightest.”

He turned his attention to Missy, “and all I want to do is help you, I promise you. Trust me Missy, please.”

“I’m going to work in the lower chamber - I can control anything I need to remotely - Doctor, I will get started, and my new orders to the people will be transmitting by the time it takes you to release yourself.”

The Master nodded, “we have an agreement then. Bit I promise you - If you slow the progress or sabotage this in any way Doctor, you _will_ suffer.”

“I wouldn't expeqct anything less,” the Doctor replied.

“Of course, this won't be your entire plan,” the Doctor said casually, now focusing his sights on readings scrolling across the monitor closest to him.

“I would insulted if you thought it was,” Missy said with a smirk.

The Master cast her a warning glance, hoping she would exercise caution in what she shared.

“You're not pirates, just stripping resources for profit, that level of theft is beneath either of you. You need it for something else, something much bigger I suppose.”

“That does not concern you Doctor, once you've assisted us, you can leave happy in the knowledge that you saved a lot of people.”

“And given you the means to do worse perhaps?”

“Perhaps, but we will be long gone before we move on to bigger and better things. Let’s get to work Missy,” he said, eyeing her carefully before turning to leave.

 

They remained silent until the sound of the elevator doors closed

She glanced at the Doctor, her eyes meeting his for a fleeting moment, before she walked over and quickly released his bonds.

He looked at her in surprise, fully expecting to have been left to struggle to release himself.

“There...are three colony ships, I can use them as safe zones, they don't even need to be in orbit," she said.

She turned to a console and began working fast. She remained silent until she had finished, turning back around to watch him, aa he examined thr readouts on the adjacent console.

He stopped and turned around to meet her eyes, the look of accomplishment in her eyes giving him the hope that she had achieved something.

“What have you done?” he asked.

“Mass hypnosis - the system that accomplishes that - ive tapped into it and made some adjustments, now it can be used for mass teleport. The ships don't need to leave the planet to keep the people safe, they just need to be on board, the shielding will save them all.”

“That’s brilliant, when can you activate it?”

“I already have,” she said.

He smiled, reaching for her and taking her hand.

She froze, it always felt like the entire cosmos was suspended all around them when they touched. She looked into his eyes and felt an urge to just take his hand and run to her TARDIS, if she could even reach it - get out of there and leave everything behind them.

“Are we the only two people left here?” he asked.

“Yes, we are. His TARDIS is down there. He will make an effort to stop your adjustments but the eruptions are too strong, he won't risk remaining here. The rest of the population are safely on the ships, but we Doctor, are stuck here.”

“My TARDIS is close by, where's yours?” he asked.

“I relocated it. Remote emergency protocol - it will be safe but undetectable for a while.”

“So we get to mine,” he said, feeling an alarming tremor beneath them.

“Doctor,” she whispered, her hearts thudding heavily in her chest. “We don't have much time….”

He looked at her in alarm as a sudden violent eruption shook the room, throwing them both to the floor. He stretched out his arm, reaching for her as she rolled on her side, only just moving out of the range of a falling cabinet as the earthquake began to rip the world around them apart.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't intended to give this a happy ending but it seemed to just go there by itself. I think it's my Twissy love that does it. I just want them to see the stars together so much and end up writing unintentionally fluffy chapters.
> 
> So this ending is rather fluffy. Sorry! But also I'm not. :-)

The jolt had been strong enough to knock them to the ground, but wasn’t at full strength - what they still had was time, although it was slipping faster and faster away. The Doctor stood quickly, stepping toward Missy and feeling a flash of relief as she stood up, brushing dust off of her jacket

She looked at him and shook her head, “well my past self will be out of here - that was rude, leaving us here. Just you and me now Doctor, I take it your TARDIS is close?”

“Yes, it is,” he said. “We’re not going there though.”

“We’re not? Where are we…” she paused as realisation struck and rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, we’re about to be sucked into the ground, we can’t go down underground to stop this process now, we have to leave!”

“Walk away from all the millions of people you've put in mortal danger?”

“Guilt tripping me won't get you anywhere, we are not going down to the basement to spend our final moments in these bodies playing heroes while we get crushed by falling debris. TARDIS Doctor!” she said, exasperated. "The people are safe on the colony ships!"

“No! You don't want to walk away and leave an entire population trapped on abandoned colony ships on a dying world! You brought me here because you didn't want to do this. And I _can_ guilt trip you, want to know why? Because like it or not, you care! You can’t just walk away and leave this entire planet to die Missy!”

She stared at him in exasperation, “Doctor, you are a total idiot sometimes! You go down there and die trying in futile to save everyone when there isn't enough time before the building collapses, or get to your TARDIS where I can control the whole operation remotely. Settle the eruptions down, then you can go back down and play saviour to these people as you usher them back to their salvaged world, all you want. I'm not going to risk our lives when I have a remote device!”

The Doctor looked at her first in astonishment, then utter guilt at his assumption that she would choose to walk off and save herself, leaving the planet to die behind her.

“Oh. Yes, that would be a good idea,” he said sheepishly. “My TARDIS is nearby, we should go.”

Missy watched him incredulously before shaking her head and gesturing for him to leave the way.

He headed for the door, and she followed, steadying herself slightly with a hand on the wall as another small tremor shook the building.

“ _Sorry for assuming you were going to fly away and leave an entire planet to die Missy_ ,” she said. “Oh that’s ok Doctor, I know you’re just being judgemental and insulting and not acknowledging my genuine decency. _Glad you understand Missy, I can be quite the idiot at times. It’s probably because I just love you so much that I can't think straight around you._ ”

The Doctor shook his head, “stop that Missy.”

“What was that?” she said, cupping her hand to her ear and leaning toward him. “Couldn't hear you, did you say, I’m sorry for making such an assumption Missy?”

The Doctor paused, turning to face her, feeling warmth immediately at the playful look that danced in her eyes. He smiled, and reached for her hand, and she froze for a moment, her gaze suddenly falling quite serious as she seemed to immerse right into the warmth that immediately appeared in his eyes.

The ground shook underneath their feet, and Missy fell forwards, the Doctors arm instantly slipping around her. She settled into his arms, turning her head to rest on his shoulder. He held her steady until the tremor passed, but despite the now steady ground she seemed to fall deeper into his embrace. He didn’t want to push her away but was acutely aware of the pressing need to leave the building. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he eased her back slightly, smiling at the moan of disappointment she gave him.

“We can get to my TARDIS in under a minute...we should probably get there…” he said reluctantly.

“Its a TARDIS, we can make up for lost time,” she said, looking at him intently. “Kiss me.”

The Doctor, his instinctive reaction to joke off her proposition, especially given their situation, simply took her hand, and led her out of the room.

She smirked and kept her eyes on him as he deftly avoided eye contact with her. She loved it when she threw him. 

Once inside the TARDIS, he was impressed with the speed at which she got to work. He stood back and didn’t comment, watching as she expertly removed the bio lock and got to work setting up the interface. She soon had remote access to her base on the planet's surface and worked for a few minutes on the system. Eventually she turned around, satisfied that she had countered the process enough that the tremors would not be so intense.

She caught his eye and noticed the inquisitive gaze he held.

“ _Oh_ , sorry. I should've asked before I lifted the bio lock, that was rude of me, but needs must.”

“You removed it in under a minute…” he said thoughtfully.

“Well yes, bit disappointed in myself, but i was distracted - maybe 45 seconds next time. Hey!” she said, suddenly enthused by an idea. “Perhaps we can make a game out of that - you set it up and I try to break through it. I used to really enjoy that all those lifetimes ago, you did too, you remember don't you?”

He looked at her fondly, memories of their times together when they were both so much younger, and filled with the promise to travel together and see every star, suddenly struck him. For the first time in so many lives, he could see his friend again.

He walked toward her, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. He waited until she relaxed from the freeze his sudden move had caused, and then wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. When she sighed and returned his kiss with enthusiasm he felt an incredible sense of completeness.

Pulling back slightly, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead.

She smiled at him in response and he was struck by how absolutely genuine she was in that moment. No masks, no disguises, just honest feeling. It had taken them a very long to get there.

“Let’s go save this planet,” he said.

“Oh Doctor, why do you ruin a perfect moment?” she exclaimed.

He laughed and stepped away from her, ignoring her groan of protest and opened the doors.

“Let’s go inspect the damage and make sure these people aren't left without the basics they need to survive. Water supplies are probably knocked out for a start,” he said.

“I’m not digging wells Doctor. Just putting that out there right now so there’s no question. Not condemning them all to death is a big enough act of kindness is it not?”

“It is Missy, a tremendous start, but let’s just patch up their world a little before we move on.”

“Fine, but I get to drive on the way back to the vault,” she said.

He paused looking at her quizically, “who said we’re going back to the vault right away - how about we go the scenic route - quick trip before we go back.”

She smiled, “Oh you are being naughty, I _do_ like that. Ok, but don’t mess up the coordianates when we eventually go back or the egg will be cross with you.”

“That’s why you’re definitely driving,” he said with a laugh.

  
“We need to move my TARDIS away from here - I don't want it falling into the wrong hands - or anyone’s hands for that matter.”

“Of course,” the Doctor said, stepping closer to her and taking her hand in his. “We will keep it safe, I promise you. Nestled inside mine, it will just stay with us.”

“Sounds ever so cosy,” she said with a smile.

The mechanics of the process were not entirely basic, but they eventually relocated Missy’s TARDIS to the Doctor’s office where it immediately took the appearance of a bookcase. In truth Missy managed the entire process, and the Doctor did not interfere - the security of her TARDIS was vital and he needed her to be confident in that.

They checked the the time and date, and then dematerialised in the Doctors TARDIS.

 

**A year later they returned to the vault.**

 

Missy piloted to her usual excellent skill, and the timing was perfect as they materialised moments after she had left.

“How long do you want to stay for?” he asked.

“Oh I don’t know, but the metaphorical thousand year clock isn’t ticking till im back inside, so we need to let it move on a little. Plus I just need to have this as my space to be alone and think sometimes. You decide,” she said, feeling decidedly uncertain about letting him decide when to grant her freedom again.

“Ok, if this is what you want, then I wont go anywhere either, until you tell me you're ready.”

“You’re sweet when you go all sincere Doctor,” she said. “We can head to the stars again, but a girl needs some personal time too, and as you get all panicky at the thought of letting me relax in my own TARDIS, then this is my other home..of sorts. Pool though - I’ve worked out how we can hide it from the egg too.”

“Ok, let’s work on that,” he said with a smile.

She had frozen at the doorway to the vault, and he simply waited, not ushering her inside. He had purposfully not materialised inside despite it being her request to go back for a while. 

He placed a hand on her shoulder as they stood at the threshold together, “no distress calls, no looking for trouble, just you and me exploring - tell me when you’re ready.”

“I will Doctor, but do either of us know how many years I have left - 900? 700? 1?”

“No idea, sorry, I haven’t counted in a long time,” he said.

She laughed, “you could at least keep count!”

“So, do you want to be alone, or shall I bring chinese food and pudding?” he said with a smile.

Missy laughed, “I think you know the answer to that, and bring tea - I broke the kettle.”

“What did you do to the kettle?” he asked.

She waved her hand dismissively, “oh, just a simple experiment, nothing too sinister. Now go, and I don't want to see you back here without take away food and a pot of tea.”

He smiled and dropped his hand from her cheek as she stepped backwards into the vault, slipping off her jacket and moving to place it onto a coat stand.

“Go, close the door before I have a change of hearts,” she said with a wink.

He smiled at her affectionately, deciding that perhaps their next year long excursion should be in her TARDIS. He had been respectful in ignoring his urge to go in and explore it, but she could have stolen his TARDIS 1000x over by that point and hadn’t, so he had to admit that he trusted her.

Trusting the Master had always left him in a bad place, but this time, she wouldnt do that...he hoped.

When he returned to the vault, she opened the door with a remote device embedded into one of her piano keys, and he laughed.

They sat together eating as they made plans, elaborate, time consuming and complicated plans, that would give them the abiltiy to challenge each other without catastrophe. Missy detailed her suggestion for a hidden lab that Nardole wouldn't panic about, and the Doctor agreed as long as she didn't block him monitoring her experiments.

They eventually ate in a comfortable silence, each of their thoughts filled with plans and destinations.

The Doctor looked at her and smiled - he hadn't  relaised just how much he had needed his friend back too.


End file.
